A Book About Fall and Winter Turkey Hunting

© By Othmar Vohringer

I am a self confessed turkey hunting addict with that said it is obvious that I not only hunt turkeys in the traditional spring season but also in the fall and winter, or as I call it The Forgotten Season. It is with turkey hunting enthusiasm that I am announcing today the publishing of a new book.

Fall and Winter Turkey Hunting Handbook
By Steve Hickoff

About the Book
For the sportsman who thrills at the booming gobble of a spring tom during mating season and wants to extend that exhilarating feeling, Steve Hickoffs Fall and Winter Turkey Hunters Handbook offers the perfect remedy. The fall and winter season not only allows a wider variety of hunting options than the spring, but it also requires different hunting tactics and skills. Hickoff examines fall turkey behavior and vocalizations and provides details on locating, scouting, and calling fall gobblers, with tips for mapping flock patterns and identifying changing flock composition. Includes the little-known strategy of hunting turkeys with dogs, using them to find and flush flocks. The material on firearms, ammunition, and archery tackle will benefit all turkey hunters--fall, winter, or spring.

What the Author Says About the Book

My "Fall & Winter Turkey Hunter's Handbook" (240 pp.; 150 color photos) was just released last month by Stackpole Books. I'm happy to say that between my seminar appearances from Maine to Kansas, phone calls, and both radio and magazine interviews, there's been some steady interest.

In the book, I examine fall and winter turkey behavior and vocalizations. I also provide details on locating, scouting, and calling autumn wild turkeys, with tips for patterning birds and identifying changing flock composition. Also discussed here is the strategy of hunting turkeys with dogs by using them to flush flocks before hunters call scattered birds back to their concealed setup. As a bonus, the material on firearms, ammunition, and archery tackle will benefit all turkey hunters—fall, winter, or spring.

To read more about this book or to purchase it go here

Tags: Fall Turkey Hunting, Turkey Hunting Book, Steve Hickoff, Fall and Winter Turkey Hunting Book



If you’re interested to learn more about my turkey hunting seminars and clinics schedule, for more information or booking queries contact me.

Turkey Hunting In The News

Foster’s Daily Democrat
N.H. and Maine fall turkey hunting
By Steve Hickoff

New Hampshire and Maine fall turkey hunting—the restoration of this bird only began in the mid 1970s in N.H. and shortly thereafter in Maine—has involved autumn archery-only options, coinciding with bowhunting for deer. Recent developments saw N.H. initiate a short gun turkey season last fall, extra permit required, in a limited zone. This year, that's still the case in the Granite State (Oct. 15-19), and even the Pine Tree State has added a six-day firearms turkey season, additional permit required (Oct. 13; Oct. 15-19). Why? More turkeys to hunt equals increased opportunities. Read full article>

The Buckeye Lake Beacon
Fall turkey season begins Oct. 13

COLUMBUS - Hunters are preparing for Ohio's upcoming fall wild turkey season, which runs Saturday, October 13 through Sunday, October 28, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

The 16-day season is followed by the fall archery-only wild turkey season, which opens Monday, October 29 and ends Sunday, November 25. Thirtyseven counties are open for fall turkey hunting.

"Good reproductive success this past summer should equate to better wild turkey abundance during the 2007 fall turkey hunting season, as compared to last year," said Mike Reynolds, Division of Wildlife turkey management leader. Reynolds estimates Ohio's statewide wild turkey flock now numbers more than 180,000 birds. Read full article

Maryville Daily
Turkey season is just around the bend
By Christine Campbell

It’s late September and one of Missouri's most popular hunting seasons is getting ready to start. Hundreds of Missouri residents as well as non-residents eagerly embrace this season with great enthusiasm. It takes skill, stealth, cunning and even a bit of luck to harvest this animal in the fall. Many folks like to harvest this bird as an old family tradition for the upcoming holidays. The season is the fall firearms turkey.

Unlike the spring firearms turkey season the fall season presents a greater challenge to hunters in order to harvest a bird. The turkeys are not calling to each other as they do in the spring season. During the spring mating season it is easy to locate a bird quickly by listening for the gobble of the male turkey. In the fall the birds are quiet, well camouflaged, and busy looking for food. Read full article

Tags: Wild Turkey, Fall Turkey Hunting Season, News

California Introduces Youth Turkey Hunting Season

Source: NWTF

CALIFORNIA — The California Fish and Game Commission recently approved a youth turkey season. The season will allow hunters 16 years old and younger that hold a junior hunting license, to hunt turkeys two weeks after the general spring season.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for California youth to be introduced to, and participate in the rich tradition of hunting in this state; one which I am happy to support," said California Game and Fish Commissioner, Judd Hanna.

Currently, California has an extended two-week archery season for wild turkeys after the general season. The youth season, which starts May 5 and ends May 18, allows eligible youth to hunt during this extended season with either legal method of harvest, gun or bow, for wild turkeys.

"I am very pleased to see a youth turkey hunt in California," said Ryan Mathis, National Wild Turkey Federation regional biologist for California. "Turkey hunting continues to grow in California, and now we have an avenue to introduce youth to a sport they will enjoy for a lifetime."

Read full story here>

Tags: California, Youth Turkey Hunt, National Wild Turkey Federation,

Heirloom Calls win Turkey Calling Contest

By Othmar Vohringer

Here at SHS we are committed to the recruitment and promotion of young and new hunter. Therefore I am particularly pleased to write today about a young hunter from Florida winning her first turkey calling contest.

Terri Lynne Benoit, sister of noted outdoor writer Toby Benoit, took part in the junior division of the Florida State Turkey Calling Championship hosted by the National Wild Turkey Federation
and Bass Pro Shops
in Orlando, Fl. For Terri Lynne this was the first contest ever, in which she promptly made it to second place. She tells me, “I was nervous, but all the other kids in the junior category told me how good my calls sounded that I got over it. I had to play a fly-down cackle, a cutting from an excited hen, a plain hen yelping, and my best call, which I purred like a feeding hen.”

I am not surprised that the other kids found that Terri’s turkey call sounded great, after all she used a HeirloomRebel Yell Box. I use exclusively Heirloom calls for all my turkey hunting. I am so impressed with the sound and quality of these calls that I had not to think twice about it when Brian Warner, the founder of Heirloom Turkey Calls, asked me to join his pro staff team. It’s a product that I can put my name and reputation to it without any doubt.

Terri Lynne’s turkey calling contest success pleases me in several ways. First, because she is a young hunter and as such she is a positive role model to others that would like to join our rich hunting and outdoor heritage. Of course I am also thrilled at the fact that a Heirloom turkey call outplayed all the other calls at the contest and last but not least. Terri Lynne is a member of the SHS Hunting Chat Forum were she is a regular guest in our “Passing the Heritage On” youth and new hunters dedicated forum.

With young hunters like Terri Lynne Benoit, among others just as dedicated to the hunting heritage, the future of hunting is in good hands. Terri told me that she enjoys every minute with her brothers and friends in the great outdoors learning about wild animals and how to hunt them. Please next time you head out to the woods take a child or novice hunter with you and teach them about hunting and wildlife stewardship so they too can enjoy our great hunting heritage and with that secure the future of hunting for generations to come.

Tags: Heirloom Turkey Calls, Turkey Calling Contest, Young Hunters, Bass+Pro+Shop, National Wild Turkey Federation